Anyone can insert a straight ersatz-apostrophe with just about any keyboard. Find out here how to type a prettier, typographically more “correct” and curly apostrophe instead on a Mac.
First, Putting the Head in Hot Sand
Put the head in the sand, or the whole feather perhaps. For hot sand was (and is) used to prepare a feather so it would would not split and allow for a fine tip in its function as a quill.
Now that our quills are properly tempered and straightened, let’s use them to insert delicate and properly curved quotes (or apostrophes):
How to Type a Curly Apostrophe ( ’ ) on a Mac Keyboard
Directly Using the Apostrophe Keyboard Shortcut
Time needed: 1 minute
To input a curly apostrophe using the keyboard on a Mac:
- Position the input cursor where you want to enter the apostrophe.
Here’s where: The apostrophe is used to indicate possession (or being part of, generally answering to the question ‘Whose?’) and to stand for an omission; do not surround the apostrophe with white space unless it is at the beginning or the ending of a word.
Examples: Copy ’n’ paste (for Copy and paste), the spider’s sail (whose sail?) and a finger’s push (whose push?) - Press Option Shift ].
Us and them: The key combination above is for the U.S.-English keyboard layout; see below for finding the apostrophe on other keyboard layouts.
Here’s what happens: This will insert’, the right (closing) single quote character (Unicode U+2019) and the only curly quote that is within easy reach on the keyboard.
Alternative apostrophe: For a, depending on the typeface, even more typographically appealing or correct appearance, you can also insert the curly quoteʼ(Unicode U+02BC), of course, using Character Viewer; see below.
The other way ’round: How to Type the Hawaiian Okina ( ʻ ) on a Mac
Using Automatic Substitutions
You can rely on macOS to insert the apostrophe automatically to some extent:
- Open the app in which you want to insert apostrophes automatically.
Per app: This setting is per app; do not hesitate to enable it where you write your emails, for instance, and turn it off where you type your code. - Select Edit | Substitutions | Show Substitutions in the menu.
- Turn on Smart Quotes.
- Select one of the options that uses the single right quotation mark for single quotes.
Single right quotation mark: This is identical to the apostrophe.
Here’s why: This will insert double quotation marks correctly and replace all single quotation marks with apostrophes.
Quotations: Note that the single quotation marks (for quotes inside indirect speech, for instance) will also be two apostrophes automatically instead of left and right single quotes.
- Close the Substitutions window.
- Press ‘ to insert an apostrophe.
Undo: You can always undo an automatic substitution using Command Z.
Using Character Viewer or Emoji Panel
To input a curly apostrophe using the Mac Character Viewer or the emoji panel:
- Position the text cursor where you want to insert the apostrophe character.
- Open Character Viewer or the emoji panel.
Here’s how: Select Edit | Emoji & Symbols from the menu.
Mac keyboard shortcut: You can also press 🌐︎ or Fn E to open the emoji panel. - Type
apostrophein the Search field. - Select ʼ (MODIFIER LETTER APOSTROPHE) to insert the apostrophe character.
Closing quote: You can also search forright single quotationand insert the closing single quote for an apostrophe look-alike.
How to Type a Curly Apostrophe ( ’ ) on a Mac Keyboard: FAQ
Can I also enter a curly apostrophe using copying and pasting?
Yes.
To insert the curl apostrophe characters anywhere as text, you can copy them below:
curly apostrophe (right single quote) ’ | |
apostrophe (modifier apostrophe) ʼ |
How can I differentiate the different, quasi identical characters?
To identify the characters and find out whether a curly apostrophe is an opening single quote or the modifier character, paste them into a tool that lets you see the Unicode code points (and non-printing characters).
(How to type a curly apostrophe on a Mac keyboard tested with macOS Sequoia 15.1 and Sonoma 14.5; first published June 2024, last updated November 2024)